I'm like you, McJoe. I used to enjoy mardi gras up to a point. Then, a decade ago a tragedy occured that turned me against it. I'll tell the short version.
A young man we'll call Nat was a 17 year old country boy from Washington County. He and his close friends were at mardi gras on Fat Tuesday. Between parades traffic on Dauphin was bumper to bumper and not moving. He and his pal crossed the street between cars. A guy in the car they crossed in front of made a remark to them about jaywalking. Nat's pal snapped back. One thing led to another and the two men in the car exited and they had a fist fight. Nat and his pal, Jamie, beat the men down and made ready to leave. One of the men went back to his car, took out a pistol and a badge and announced he was a policeman. Jamie threw up his hands and said “I didn't know you were a cop.” The off duty cop said “I'll kill you.” He then shot Jamie between the eyes and killed him. Then he pistol whipped Nat. All this in front of thirty two witnesses who testified. For a week, Mobile Press updated the story, each time pointing out that Nat and Jamie were hoodlums and deserved it. Then the lab reports came in revealing the off duty cop was high on cocaine and had just had an altercation with others a block away before this incident. The Mobile Press reported that in small print. The cop lost his job but is walking about today unpunished for the premeditated murder. Nat went on to become a fine Christian man and married my daughter. They have two wonderful children. The resulting law suit, filed by Jamie's dad and Nat, was settled six months ago. Jamie's dad got $20,000 of which the attorney got half. Nat split a $10K settlement with his attorney. Jamie's dad is a broken man after losing his son and Nat still is haunted by the memory.
I have little use for mardi gras, Mobile City Of, Mobile Press and MPD. I'm glad I live in Baldwin County. I noted with interest that a half dozen people, including a mental patient, have been shot dead in Mobile recently. The more things change, the more they are the same.